This invention relates to fences, and more particularly, to picket fences with rails.
Fences of the prior art have been made of metal and plastic with extruded top and bottom rails, attached to vertical posts by brackets as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,897 issued Oct. 26, 1993 to Pepper. They generally require supporting posts spaced apart no more than six feet to avoid sagging of the rails. Vertical pickets between top and bottom rails that extend above the top rail generally pass through an enlarged hole in the top rail to permit the fence section to rack between posts, i.e. to assume an angle to the horizontal where the ground is not level. This creates an unattractive structure. It would be useful to have a fence section that could extend as much as eight feet between posts without sagging, and that would not have oversize holes in the top rail to accommodate racking.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a fence structure that can readily span as much as eight feet between posts because of an improved rail construction. It is another object that the fence rail incorporate an attractive longitudinal feature. It is yet another object to provide improved connection to the posts. It is yet another object to provide improved means for racking. The fence sections comprising parallel rails and pickets may be preassembled and the posts with their connectors provided separately. The vertical posts are then mounted one at a time, one end of the fence section inserted into the connectors on a first post, the other end of the section inserted into the connectors on a second post, and that post fixed in place. These and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become more apparent when the detailed description is studied in conjunction with the drawings in which like elements are designated by like reference characters in the various drawing figures.